Battlestar Xanthi: Project Destiny
by Commmander Nash
Summary: The First Cylon War is over. But as the Colonials lick their wounds and rebuild, they are also making plans for the future. Plans that might one day decide the fate of the human race...
1. Origins

**Chapter One**

 **(Fleet Headquarters – Admiral Magnus' Office – 17 Days after the Armistice, 0827)**

Peter Magnus was buried in paperwork. After the Armistice had been signed, the higher ups had decided to transfer him from the _Atlantia_ to HQ. At first, he had been extremely unhappy. But then he realized why the brass had made the call. With the war over, a lot of folks were resigning their commissions. This had a simple, yet major result….the Fleet needed to be re-organized. That part was being take off by Admirals Jones, Patterson and McAnders. But the ships that remained would often need new CO's and XO's. And that was Peter's part of the equation. A knock on the door made him look up.

"Enter."

The door opened and Crewman Victor Lazarus entered. He was carrying three boxes full of files. Just eighteen years old, Lazarus was a newbie to the fleet. In fact, he had graduated the Academy sixteen days ago. But if he was angry about the missing the war by an inch, he wasn't showing it. What had shown was that he was a terrible pilot. He had crashed the simulator – in more ways than one – three times and had been on the brink of washing out when Magnus had first met him.

But the Admiral had seen something in the young man and – on a hunch – assigned him to fixing the simulator. Lazarus had done so in record time. From that point on, he had been on an engineering track. There, he had shown three talents….paperwork, leadership and fixing things. It was a combination that spelled out that Lazarus would make a great Chief of the Deck someday. But with the post-war reorganization going on, it would probably be a while before they could pin down which Battlestar to assign him to. So for now, his was biding his time as Magnus' aide.

"Here's are the files for the _Galactica_ , sir."

"Put them with the other boxes, please."

There was a stack of boxes in one corner of the office. With the three boxes that Lazarus had brought, the count was at twenty-seven. At the moment, Magnus was going through about a box per day. He was currently working on the crew of the _Yashuman_.

"Coffee, Admiral ?"

"No, thank you." He looked at Lazarus, who was looking very tired. From what he knew of the man, he had probably been working himself way to hard. "But you look like could us some." He gestured towards the chair across from him. "Have a seat, crewman."

"Yes, sir." Lazarus said as he sat down.

"How long did you sleep this night ?" Lazarus bit his lower lip and held up four fingers. (Meaning he had gotten four hours of shuteye.) Magnus shook his head. "And how long since you got a full eight hours ?"

"Two weeks, sir."

"In that cause, the office next door is empty…." The previous owner – Admiral Yates – had been killed during Battle of Tauron. (On Day 4571 of the War.) "….and has a couch, use it. That's an order, crewman."

"Yes, sir." Lazarus got up and headed for the door. Before he could got there, he stopped and turned. "Sir, do you think they are really gone ? The Cylons, I mean ?" There were some in the Fleet who believed that the Cylons had only signed the armistice to stall. They were expecting the toasters to wait a couple of months – while rebuilding their fleet and numbers – and then hit the Colonies with everything they could muster. "The rumor mill…."

"Is often wrong, crewman."

"Yes, sir." Lazarus said. "Sorry, sir. Won't happen again, sir." Lazarus headed for the door, but stopped just shy of it. He bit his lip as if pondering if the question on his mind was rude. But his mouth apparently overrode his brain, because it just popped out. "Do you believe in Earth, sir ?"

The question surprised Magnus. He frowned and looked at the crewman.

"Why do you ask ?"

"I don't know, but if there is another tribe out there…." Lazarus paused. "….Well, it would mean that even if the Cylons wipe out the twelve colonies, there would still be Humans in the universe. It's a small comfort, but it's better than nothing, sir. You know, it's a shame that we can't just build a fourteenth colony. Somewhere on some random rock, where the Cylons could never find it."

"Get some sleep, crewman."

"Yes, sir."

Lazarus left and Magnus leaned back. He pondered the crewman's suggestion and came up with a single question…..why not ? What was keeping them from building a fourteenth tribe, somewhere out there. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down two words: Project Destiny. Then he started looking for his collection of star charts, there was work to be done.

 **(Research Vessel Celestra – Command Center – 25 Days after the Armistice, 0800)**

Admiral Magnus looked at the DRADIS screen and studied Delta Alpha II. It was a desert world at the very edge of charted space. There was practically no plant-life and the temperatures were always extremely high. Even at night, they would not drop below forty degree centigrade. Most people considered it a 'first class hell-hole'. And that was exactly why Magnus was considering it for Project Destiny.

"What do you think, Mister Lazarus ?"

"It's distant, uncomfortable and you'd have to be insane to move here." Lazarus began. "So, I think it is perfect, sir."

"But…?"

"What makes you think there's a 'but', sir ?"

"There always is." Magnus said with a smile. "I've been around long enough to know that. And yes, it's a cliché, but it's true. Now, seriously, what are you reservations ?"

"I think we should keep looking, sir." Lazarus began. "What if we bet all our chips on this world and the charting teams can't find a good spot ? We should have a list of possible sites."

Magnus nodded. He had been thinking the same thing. But he had wanted to know what Lazarus thought of this situation. And the man had passed his little test with flying colors. He turned to the ranking marine – a Captain – and told her to prepare to send down a team. The woman nodded and set to the task. _Celestra_ was a civilian ship, but for security reasons they were using a Colonial Fleet crew. That, and the civilian crew had worked their rear ends off during the War. They had earned some major leave time.

"We'll make a list." He said. "For now, however, let's check out this ball of sand."

"Yes, sir."

And with that, the two of them headed out.

 **(Delta Alpha II - 25 Days after the Armistice, 0815)**

As advertised, the planet was hot and miserable. They had gone down by means of shuttle. The team consisted of Magnus, Lazarus and four Marines. The Marines were led by Captain Janice McNeill. She, Lazarus and Magnus were watching the sun set.

"So." McNeill said. "Now what do we do ?"

"We're almost there." Magnus said. "Time to get moving."

Magnus led the way to the site he had picked. It was a valley between two massive dunes. The plan was to begin digging here and create an underground complex. After all, this place was to be a secret settlement. And a surface colony would be way too vulnerable to attack. The problem was setting up adequate defenses, while not telegraphing the location of the place.

"Looks like every other valley to me. Is this…."

That was a far as McNeill got before there was a loud cracking sound and the ground swallowed her. An enormous hole formed where the Captain had been before and the rest of the party had to scramble to get far enough away. Streams of sand were pouring down the hole, threating to drag them along. Magnus cursed.

He had picked this valley because the ship's DRADIS readings had made his suspect there was a large cave underneath. It would make keeping the work secret a lot easier. But the roof has apparently been much more fragile than expected. And now McNeill was down there, while the place was filling up with sand. They had to get her out of there. Before she was buried alive. He made his way to edge of the hole.

"McNeill !" He shouted.

But there was no reply. Fortunately, they had all brought repelling gear. They quickly secured it and headed down. As they did so, it became clear why this section had collapsed. The piece was much thinner than then surrounding areas. They had secured their line there. Magnus was the first to hit the floor. He found McNeill in rough shape, but still breathing.

"Jones ! Barnes !" The two marines in question came rushing. "We need to get her back to the _Celestra_. Paulson, you are driving."

"Sir." Paulson began. "We can't leave the two of you alone down here."

"This is not a discussion, Mister. You three are going back to the ship and that is an order." The tone of his voice made it clear that he was not taking any further questioning on this. "Now get moving."

The three marines set to their assigned task. Only when they were back on the surface, did Magnus breathe a bit easier. There was still sand coming down, so they would have to hurry. He was packing a submachine gun, which came with an integrated flashlight under the barrel. Magnus turned it on and led the way deeper into the cave. Behind him, Lazarus also turned on his weapon's flashlight. The cave was massive and much colder then surface.

"Do you think McNeill will make it ?" Lazarus asked. "She looked bad, sir."

"Jones is a top-notch Medic. He'll keep her alive until they reach the ship. And Doctor Richards can take it from there." Doctor Victor Richards was one of the best doctors in the Fleet. He had spent five years as a civilian doctor. And then the war had started and he had enrolled. "She'll be fine."

Lazarus nodded and Magnus hoped that he was right. They headed deeper into the cave. At first, there seemed nothing special about it. But then he noticed something shiny in the distance. He readied his weapon as he approached. It was a Cylon Centurion. Lazarus immediately put three bullets into its head.

"It's already dead, crewman."

When they got there, he realized it was just a head. And it was not alone. There was a whole pile of them. He picked it up and frowned. The MCP – its brain, for lack of a better word - was missing. It was just an empty shell. He dropped it and checked several others. They were all the same. Lazarus was also examining the pile.

"Except for the one I shot, there are no bullet holes, sir." He said. "And they are all…."

"Yes, I noticed." Magnus said. "Are there any other body parts ?"

"No. Just heads, sir."

"Let's see if there is more."

They got going again. Magnus made a mental note. If the Cylon head had not been brainless, Lazarus' shots would have reduced it to pulp. He had never seen Lazarus shoot until now. It was another tic in his skill set box. (He had already added repelling to the list after seeing him come down the hole.) Fifty meters beyond the pile, they spotted something. There was a table with old and rusty tools and a huge furnace. Magnus studied the set-up. But he was no engineer. The good news was that he had one with him.

"What kind of set-up is this ?"

"Somebody wanted to melt down Cylons." Lazarus said. "And the skull is extra thick to protect the MCP." He studied the furnace. "And this is a NX-07. So you'd be fifty-seven degrees short, even at full power. And these tools…" He examined the table. "….are crude, as if…" He paused. "…what if we are not the only ones re-organizing ?"

"Cylons melting down Cylons ?"

"And stripping them down first." Lazarus gestured towards the table. "This is a Cylon version of a surgery table. Plucking out the 'organs', so to speak. And what was left…." He pointed towards the furnace.

"But why dump the heads out there ? And why not take them along ?"

Lazarus pondered that for a moment, then had an idea. "As a marker. In case they ever needed to come back here. This is not only cave on this planet. And the desert changes with time, sir."

"It's as good an idea as any, but it doesn't matter." He paused and sighed. "If the toasters have been here once, it's on their charts This planet is not suited for Project Destiny. We can't risk them coming back. We need a planet that is off the grid. So, we're going to have to risk going into uncharted space."

The two men exchanged a look. They both knew this would be a very risky proposition, but they also knew there was no other choice. This project was simply too important not do so.


	2. Ophiuchus Found ?

**Chapter Two – Ophiuchus Found ?**

 **(Research Vessel Celestra – Command Center – 1 Day after Delta Alpha II, 0711)**

McNeill was on the mend and they had submitted a report on what they had found in the cave. That had been the easy part. But getting permission to enter uncharted space, that had been hard. In the end, however, the Admiralty had yielded. They had designated an area called Prolmar Sector and authorized them to search it. The official reason was a survey to look for tyllium ore. With their cover and permission taken care off, they could get to work. So they were about to leave Delta Alpha II and head out.

Magnus walked into command center and stood at the main command table. Major Alexandria Clauson – the defacto XO of the mission – was standing there already. She was running the checklist for their jump. Finally, she turned to Magnus.

"Ready to jump to the Prolmar Sector, sir."

"Do it."

The crewman behind the FTL station turned the FTL-Key and the countdown began. Ten seconds later, the _Celestra_ jumped into Prolmar Alpha. It was a solar system with seven planets, which was located just a couple of lightyears away from Delta Alpha. They had jumped in at the edge of the system. The plan was to make their way deeper into the system and check the planets and moons as they went along. First on the list was Prolmar Alpha Six….

 **(Research Vessel Celestra – Command Center – 3 Days after Delta Alpha II, 1208)**

The first three planets and seven moons had been a bust for colonization. But they had found something useful. Prolmar Alpha Four had an ice moon called Pegasus. They had checked the ice and found that it could molten into drinking water. It was something that might add any colonization project – classified or otherwise – in the system. At the moment, however, the attention of the _Celestra_ was focused on Prolmar Alpha Three. Lazarus and Clauson were studying the DRADIS readings on the place as Magnus walked in.

"What have we got ?" He asked.

"It's a bit of a patchwork, sir." Clauson said. "The poles are frozen solid, while the area around the equator is really hot. We're doing the math on the atmosphere…." A crewman handed her a piece of paper. "….methane, argon and helium. And barely any oxygen. Long story short, unbreathable. And the temperatures are not all that great either. Minus ninety-five at the poles and seventy-two centigrade at the equator, sir."

"Can we send down a team to collect soil samples during the night ?"

"That's another thing. The day/night circle is only six hours of each. And the whole thing orbits the star in only two-hundred Colonial days, sir. Or four-hundred local days, sir."

"Are there transition zones between the poles and the and equator ?"

"Yes, sir. " Lazarus said. "But they are minefields. Volcanoes, hot springs, fault lines…and that's just what we can see from orbit, sir. Only the equator zone seems stable enough, sir."

"The equator zone is it then." He said. "Tell the team to meet me in the main bay. We're going down there." He gestured to Lazarus. "Crewman, grab you gear. We have work to do."

Lazarus nodded and the two of them headed out. This was their fifth trip – counting Delta Alpha II - since the start of the mission. And every time, the Admiral had insisted on being on the team. Major Clauson had objected the first three times – including before the Delta Alpha II mission – but now knew that was pointless. Peter Magnus was not the kind of man to shy away from danger. He was at his best on the front. And with the war over, this was as close to the front as he could find.

 **(Prolmar Alpha Three – Equator Zone – 3 Days after Delta Alpha II, 1400)**

Victor Lazarus hopped from rock to rock, avoiding contact with the sand between. As if the poles and the transition zones minefields weren't bad enough, it turned out that the equator zone was a desert made out of acidic sand. The stuff was contaminated with all sorts of waste from the transition zones. He was no chemist, but he guessed that the sand would eat a Human in merely seconds. So they were keeping as far from it as they could. Magnus had flown the shuttle himself and landed it on a big slab of stone. Now they were climbing and jumping deeper into the zone.

"For the record, this is insane…" He said. "…sir."

"For the record…" Magnus began. "….you are totally right. But if you want somebody to blame, this was your idea."

"Me and my big mouth."

They reached a big stone slab. Besides Magnus and Lazarus, the team consisted of three Privates – Henry Jones, Antonia Barnes and Yorrick Wallace – one Corporal – Victor Paulson – and one Sergeant, who was called Bert Layton. (These were the same Jones, Barnes and Paulson who had gone with to Delta Alpha II.) Layton was leading the way.

"We have a problem, sir." He said. "We've run out rocks."

The area ahead was nothing but acidic sand. They all gathered on the slab. Lazarus studied the view and realized Layton was right. And part of him was glad they had done so. Since the atmosphere was no good, they were carrying oxygen tanks on their back and breathing by means of helmet. Added to that, the planet's gravity was twelve percent greater than standard. It had made the trek even more difficult.

"Stay away from the edge, people." Magnus said.

Before anybody could reply, the ground shook. There had been minor tremors since they had landed – they were coming from the transition zone – but this one was bad. Private Wallace lost his balance and tumbled from the platform. Within seconds, there was nothing left of the man. Lazarus had suppress the urge to throw up.

"Poor Yorrick." He managed to squeeze out. As he did so, Magnus put his hand on his shoulder. The look on his face helped him keep it together. "This is….my first, sir. When I signed up, I knew it might come to this one day. And that I myself…."

"Doesn't make it any easier." Lazarus shook his head. "And we still have to complete the mission."

"Yes, sir." He took a couple of deep breaths and pulled himself together. "So, what do we do now ?"

"We need to take a closer look at this blasted plain." Magnus said, while pulling out a general scanner. "Let's get this over with."

Lazarus followed the Admiral's example and began scanning the sand. They began at the side where Wallace had fallen. The readings were off-the-scale. But as they moved to the other side, the values slowly went down. Finally, they reached the far end of the slab. They studied the situation and Lazarus cursed. He couldn't believe it. While there were no rocks deeper in the desert - which was to the east - there were rocks to the north. If they had headed this way before, maybe Wallace would still be alive. But there had been no way to see the rocks through the soup of an atmosphere.

As the made their way north, the sand continued to become less acidic. Lazarus looked at the rocks and realized that *they* were the barrier which were stopping the contaminates. After what felt like forever, the scanner beeped and a light turned green. Taking a deep breath, he stepped off the rocks….


	3. Ophiuchus Lost

**(Prolmar Alpha Three – Equator Zone – 28 Days after the Armistice , 1418)**

Magnus let out a deep breath as Lazarus stepped into the sand….and nothing happened. The acidity had reached zero. The scanner had said zero. But if there was one thing Magnus had learned over the years, it was not to blindly trust machines. Lazarus nodded and the rest of the team left the rocks as well. Magnus checked his watch. It was rapidly approaching midnight, so they would have to hurry.

Even now, after three hours of cooling, the sand was still warm. (He figured that the whole equator zone was one giant heat capacitor.) They kept heading deeper into the desert. Magnus wanted to know how wide this 'safe zone' was. It was slow going in the desert sand. But after thirty minutes, the readings were clear. They had found the other border.

"One point five clicks." Layton said. "Give or take a meter, sir."

"It will have to do." Magnus began. "Let's get out here."

They headed back towards the shuttle. When they passed the place where Wallace had died, Magnus stared at the sand for a second. He hated this place. It was a vile, toxic world, that had taken one of his people. Alas, it was also the perfect place for Project Destiny. So he would be back here. But he would not forget.

 **(Cursed Rock – Equator Zone – 4 Months after the Armistice, 0800)**

Lazarus stepped out of the shuttle and looked around. The shuttle was parked just outside a massive construction site. It had taken time to round up all the necessary gear and people. Especially since the whole thing was classified. And the atmosphere made the work harder and slower than normal. They had been at it for two weeks now. The construction crew had made their dislike clear by naming the planet Cursed Rock. It was a name that had spread like wildfire.

But none of that mattered at the moment. He walked towards the center of the site. There was a pressurized tent there, which served as a makeshift headquarters for the project. Lazarus stepped into the airlock and activated it. Finally, the cycle completed and he was able to take off his helmet. He took a deep breath and stepped into the tent. Admiral Magnus was waiting for him.

"Specialist."

"Admiral." He said with a nod.

"So, how does the new rank feel ?"

"Still a bit odd." Lazarus said as he began getting rid of the rest of his spacesuit. "But give it a couple of weeks, and it will pass."

"You think it's odd now." Magnus said. "Wait until they give you people to boss around." Lazarus finished get rid of the spacesuit. "Now, we have work to do." He gestured towards a table in the center of the tent. "So, what does your Engineer's mind make of these blueprints ?"

Lazarus made his way to the table. The blueprints of Wallace Defensive Point – the piece of the colony that would be above the surface – were waiting for him there. He spotted several things that made him frown. So he grabbed a pencil and began drawing circles around things and making notes.

 **(Cursed Rock – Ophiuchus Colony – 1402 Days after the Armistice)**

It had taken over three years to complete the colony. Once Wallace Defensive Point was done and pressurized, construction had sped up a great deal. Now the complex was ready for people to start moving in. Ophiuchus Colony would be self-sustaining and be home to twenty-four thousand people. (Two-thousand per colony.) The whole thing was defended by six turrets and four nuclear missile tubes. This was backed-up by twenty-four Mark-III Vipers and eight Raptors. Lazarus and Magnus stood in the central plaza and studied the place.

"Impressive, isn't it ?" Magnus said.

"Especially when you considered that the top floors of those skyscrapers are a hundred meters below the surface."

Magnus nodded. It was indeed very impressive. He had no doubt that this place would make a mark on history. But the question was….what kind of mark ? And who's version of history ? It was a something only time would tell. For now, however, they had other things to worry about. They had get these buildings filled first. The colonists had been selected by a special committee and contacted in secret. And now they were being shipped to their new home by the _Celestra_ and several other selected vessels.

Magnus led the way to the arrival area. As it was supposed to be, the place was loaded with freshly arrived colonists. They were all carrying heavy bags, so it was slow going. Several officers were keeping the stream going. Suddenly, Magnus recognized one of the officers. The man spotted him and nodded.

"Admiral Magnus ?"

"Major Nash." He began. "So, what do you think of our little classified corner of the universe ?"

"I think the six jumps I had to go through to get here were a bit over the top."

"It's the only way to keep the location classified." He said. "Nobody except the original survey crew knows where this little getaway is."

"And they are sworn to secrecy, I bet ?" Nash said as he gave the admiral a serious look. "You realize that you are taking a big gamble here, sir ? Even if this colony can sustain itself on schedule, if the Cylons figure out what we did here… Well, things could turn nasty."

Magnus nodded. He knew that Nash was absolutely right. The Cylons might not only destroy Ophiuchus Colony, they might even consider its very creation an act of war. But if they did not find out, this place might one day be the last chance of the Human race. Magnus had known all this when he had gone to the Admiralty. Only time would tell which of the two it would be.

 **(Fleet Headquarters – Admiral Nagala's office – 818 Days before BCH)**

Lexington Nagala sat behind his desk and sighed. He had just returned from a funeral for Warrant Officer Victor Lazarus. Lazarus had joined the service just after the Cylon War. He had worked for Admiral Magnus for five years, before being assigned to the _Battlestar Erasmus_ as Chief of the Deck. He had quickly proven to be an excellent leader and engineer. After a twenty year career, he had left the Fleet and started Lazarus Shipyards, a top-notch civilian contractor.

"Let's see what you were read into, Victor."

He opened a drawer and took out the Warrant Officer's file. It took a bit of searching, but he found the list. It was rather extensive, which made sense. Magnus had been one of their best Admirals. And this period had been filled to the brim with paranoia fueled projects. Finally, his eyes fell on two words all the way at the bottom of the list.

"Project Destiny ?"

It was the only project on the list that was still marked as Active. So he went to the Classified drawer of his filing cabinet and unlocked it. The Project Destiny file was all the way in the back. There wasn't much information on the Project. But he did notice that the Project had been set up by Admiral Magnus. The Admiral had been one sharp cookie….but whatever Project Destiny had been, the politicians had decided that it was not a high priority. (The date on the form said they had done so twenty years ago.)

"Idiots."

He browsed to the end of the file. The last page was a list of people read into the program. All but two were stamped deceased. "Warrant Officer Victor Lazarus and Commander Gaius Nash." He frowned. There was something wrong with Nash's his entry. He input the service number and realized that somebody had messed up. The service number belonged to Commander Silas Nash, _Galactica_ 's first CO. "Okay, Silas Nash, it is."

And Silas Nash was long dead. So he took out the proper stamp and marked both Lazarus and Nash as deceased. Then he closed the folder and stamped it Inactive. Project Destiny was over.

 **THE END**


End file.
